Steady Hand

There was a time in my life when I had good eyes and a very steady hand. What are these skills good for? Well, when they misprint the date on your wedding invitations, you can correct them all by hand and no one can tell.

I did this at 17, believe it or not. Hours at a desk with paint that matched the color of the paper and a fine tipped pen. I could also shoot anything and hit it. (With a bow and a rifle.) My brother and I were signed up early for 22 rifle training. After I got the wedding invitations fixed and got married and moved to Utah, I went deer hunting on horseback (this was the best part of being a real cowboy), and I was complimented on my abilities.

But not by the deer. What did this prove? If you read Hemingway, it proved that you had the right stuff. It never came across to me that way. All it meant in a literary manner, was that he couldn't see all that well and did not have a steady hand. I quit hunting after Utah. It didn't seem to mean that much. I could hit a cow or a jackrabbit and all it meant was that I could do it. I suppose I could have done it for the Army or such, but who would want to.

Maybe this is a metaphor for something.